In a serious blow to the attempts by New York City and NYC District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. to derail Knife Rights’ federal civil rights lawsuit against them, U.S. District Judge Barbara S. Jones on September 10 denied their motions for judgment on the pleadings and to dismiss the case. The ruling comes on the heels of a decision by Federal Magistrate Judge Ronald Ellis on September 7 allowing victimized NYC retailer Native Leather to join the case as a plaintiff (announced yesterday).
Download Judge Jones’ opinion and order here: http://bit.ly/ODNGi4
Together, these rulings affirm that Knife Rights’ lawsuit is valid on its face and will proceed to trial.
“Despite their attempts to make this case go away, NYC and DA Vance will now be held fully accountable in federal court by Knife Rights for their disgraceful attempts to demonize the most widely-owned pocket knives in America as contraband, and to intimidate honest knife retailers into making six-figure forced ‘contributions’ to the City, under threat of criminal penalty, in order to avoid prosecution,” said Knife Rights Chairman Doug Ritter.
The case seeks a judicial determination that the New York State laws regarding “switchblades” and “gravity knives” are unconstitutionally vague as applied to common pocket knives with a bias towards closure, including one-hand opening and assisted-opening folding knives.
Ritter continued, “The dismissal of these motions vindicates our position that there are real constitutional issues involved. The City cannot simply expand the state law to persecute knife owners and retailers to suit their own ends.”
“Suing the largest city in the U.S. is not something to be done lightly, but it is essential to our freedoms that New York not be allowed to trample on our rights, and Knife Rights has stepped up to the plate to defend freedom,” said Ritter. “Perhaps now DA Vance will recognize that this lawsuit is not going away and come to his senses instead of continuing to waste taxpayer resources victimizing law-abiding citizens who simply possess a practical tool (a common pocket knife), and the honest retailers who sell these tools.”
Plaintiffs in this case are Knife Rights, Inc., Knife Rights Foundation, Inc., Native Leather, Ltd., and two private citizens (John Copeland, an internationally acclaimed artist, and Pedro Perez, an artist and fine art dealer, both New York City residents). The defendants are the New York County DA and the City of New York itself. Knife Rights is represented by attorney David D. Jensen, Esq. of New York.
ABOUT KNIFE RIGHTS AND THE KNIFE RIGHTS FOUNDATION
Knife Rights is America’s grassroots knife owners organization and supports legislative initiatives to eliminate irrational restrictions on one of man’s oldest and most common tools, decriminalize knife possession and advance the civil rights of America’s knife owners.
The Knife Rights Foundation works to educate, inform and protect knife owners, pursuing litigation in support of knife owners’ civil rights when necessary.
Both Knife Rights and the Knife Rights Foundation (www.KnifeRights.org) are dedicated to a Sharper Future for all Americans.